With Uruguay advancing to the semifinals of the Copa America against Colombia, Darwin Nunez will prepare for a hard fought match against his teammate on Liverpool, Luis Diaz.
We can expect a high intensity, fast-paced counterattacking battle between the two sides as they push for a run into the Copa America Final.
The success of Uruguay throughout this tournament is largely due to the outstanding efforts from Darwin Nunez, as he pocketed 5 goals in the qualifiers, and 2 more in the group stages to set him at 7 before any of the knockout rounds.
Historically, Nunez has been criticized for his lack of finishing when at Liverpool, but this cup run has shown he clearly has the ability to put the ball in the back of the net.
Nunez has impressed me the most with his explosive runs in behind the defense and ability to not only score, but create opportunities for his teammates.
In the group stages of the competition, he averaged an astounding 7.9 player rating, with his highest rating being a 9.1 in Uruguay’s 5-0 thrashing of Bolivia.
The key to his success for his national team has been his freedom to play where he wants, and with that comes the ability to get creative, which he had historical been prohibited to do on Liverpool.
He can be seen making more runs on the outside, laying off the ball to his wingers to let them have a crack on goal, which is something I rarely seem him do for the Reds. He looks like a more confident player when he pulls on the Uruguay shirt.
Interestingly enough, Nunez has racked up 0.77xG/90 (expected goals per 90 minutes) in his 4 games played during the Copa America.
This is almost the exact same as his 0.79xG/90 in the Premier League for Liverpool, except this includes all of his 36 appearances for the club. If Nunez can find form against Columbia, I see no reason why Uruguay shouldn’t advance to the Final where they will play either Argentina or Canada on July 14th.
This run of form is extremely promising for the Liverpool striker, and it should be interesting to see how the new manager, Arne Slot reacts to this performance from a player we’ve come to love as Liverpool fans.
If Slot can harness this confidence from Darwin, he could be set for a huge season.
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Publish date : 2024-07-10 09:00:04
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